Aftermath: Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention

Some of the goodies I had for sale!

Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention was an interesting experiment in vending outside the world of comic conventions. After the massive success of Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival last year, I figured I'd try my hand at a bigger tattoo show in my hometown of Baltimore, Md. I had a corner booth, as tattoo shows do not have Artist Alleys like comic cons do, that I shared with my partner-in-crime and hetero-lifemate Fenny of Little Asian Sweatshop.

Partners-in-crime

I did ok financially, but the long hours and the expensive table fees kinda soured any financial success to be had. The hours were especially brutal as most days were at least 13+ hour days (including prep/travel/closedown time) letting out at midnight, and most food establishments of any quality being closed by this point. Oh how NYC has spoiled me. So alas, Fenny and I had to skip our traditional post-convention celebration of steamed crabs on the Baltimore waterfront.

Chilling out a few nights before the show

The overall attitude of many of the general populous of attendees also left me a little non-plussed. I found several times that I had to explain myself and the fact that I drew/made all this lovely merchandise you'd see before you, and that it didn't just HAPPEN. Also I had to explain what it is exactly you do with prints at least 4 times. ("you slap it in a frame and put it on your wall, dum-dum...") So yeah. Attendees of this show versus others I noticed really took things for granted. Many seemed only there for the spectacle and to gawk at the freaks. Some were even downright rude. Perfect example being on Sunday morning when a fellow walking around asked me how I was and I stated that I was tired but good. He replied asking if I was out all night partying. I said no, just being here working for 3 days straight is enough to physically destroy me and he was all oh yeah I guess this *is* a job to you guys, and that that's kind of depressing. And I was like, REALLY? Don't you judge me, dude. Like at least I'm free to be myself in a (normally) fun work environment representing myself and my own brand. What does he do that allows him to be so expressive? Ugh, yeah but that rubbed me the wrong way a bit.

Forgot my glasses on Friday and no one recognized me.

So yeah, will most likely not attend this show again next year, but hey I heard Awesomecon in DC a week or two ago was pretty sweet. It was also pretty funny how much I was plugging Baltimore Comic Con coming up in September. I had the pleasure of meeting a few young artists who were interested in my work and pursuing their own creative endeavors and I told them they definitely need to come back for BCC and check out Artist Alley. I was actually amazed that many people had never heard of it. But for every 10 yokels there was an awesome, receptive customer/fan/attendee who understands and appreciated the hustle and labor of love it is for me to come out to these shows and make the merch and be socially on point for hours upon exhausting hours.

So there's a strip club giving out boobie stress balls and FENNY GOT THREE AND SHE IS SO HAPPY.

Aftermath: Asbury Park Comicon 2014

"LOVE that Joker!"

Asbury Park Comicon kicked off my 2014 convention season last weekend and was a grand success! Hosted at the Berkley Oceanfront Hotel, this was the first of this specific show that I've attended in my further attempts to try out new venues for my Artist Alley tables. Hotel shows vs convention center shows both have their own sets of pros and cons. Hotel shows are definitely more intimate than convention center shows- the winding series of smaller, carpeted exhibition rooms you find in a hotel versus the singular, echoing concrete box of a huge convention center have various effects on you. I attended with my pal and frequent convention tablemate Maria Danalakis, who actually was placed in another room from me, so it looked like we were both flying solo. Which was interesting, as our room experiences were both very different yet enjoyable. Maria's table was out in what I called "The Veranda" which had numerous windows facing the ocean breeze and a porch with seating so you could laze about in the sunshine reading comics. How delightful.

 

My table however was located in a dimly-lit, windowless room with a heater running on high all day Saturday. It smelled weird. My makeup was melting and I was getting progressively more and more sleepy as the day stretched on. I eventually started to call it "Nerd Hell". BUT, I totally had great entertainment to make the day go by quickly. My table neighbors were the costume contact company Macabre Eyes, which was run by this dude Paul who is a character actor that all day Sunday played The Joker without breaking character. It was totally amazing. I felt like I was at a psychotic Disney character breakfast (without the breakfast). Plus, he's portraying the smarmy, middle-aged Jack Nicholson Joker, which I appreciate in this day of guys trying to be all 'sexy' Heath Ledger Joker. To add to the insane spectacle of the show was that my table was facing the celebrity row of Asbury Comicon, so I was a mere aisle's width of distance from frigging Dante from Clerks himself, Brian O'Hallorhan; the Chewlees Gum Guy from Clerks, Scott Schiaffo; frigging Rick Derris and a couple guys from Comic Book Men on AMC that were hocking their own indy creations. Every time I heard Dante say something to someone I had to chuckle a little to myself,  and go "Hey, Coach Dante!" cuz I'm actually a huger fan of the Clerks cartoon than even the movie. Also I was able to capitalize on some of the gawkers who would get held up in front of my table during massive photo sessions.
Financially the show was a win. I sold out on quite a few items, namely bracelets and my Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn pinup merch. Overall, while the show had some hiccups it was an enjoyable and fruitious time.

Setting up my table on Friday afternoon.

Sunday's outfit

In our satin tights, fighting for your rights!

New merch, sketches and a TUTORIAL!

This month I was invited by Natalie Kim to come to Frederator Studios to speak on her video podcast, It's A Draw to talk about streamlining inks in Illustrator using the LiveTrace and Pen tools. Learn professional technical terms like 'jaggedy', 'wonky' and 'just slide them around til it looks good'.

Amy

Little sketch for sanity amongst tons of work for other people. Realizing that my eventual comic featuring vampires is probably going to have a lot of night scenes, my New Year's resolution is to become better at light sources and colored shadows/highlights.

 Also got a new banner for my convention table!

 Got new stickers of my UTZ & Boh artwork on my etsy store!

 And new promo stickers I'm giving out with purchases from my etsy store and convention table!

Sailor Moon poster progress- The Scouts

Still working on this monstro-sized poster for the upcoming 20th anniversary of Sailor Moon themed show out in California this summer: Moon Crisis 2014. If you haven't already seen, I'm working on a giant Victorian style poster featuring all 5 inner Scouts and the entire theme song in fancy typography. I'm also planning on making some jewelry and such out of the individual portraits of each Scout, so I'm working on everything in separate piece to maximize the usage I can get out of it. You know me, I fully plan on merching the shit out of this thing once it's done. Haha.

Inner Senshi

Sailor Mars

Sailor Jupiter (my fave)

Sailor Mercury

Sailor Venus (with Artemis)

Had way too much fun drawing these. It's like visiting old friends. A few friends were suggesting I draw portraits of the outer Senshi as well, we'll see. Maybe later on down the road. :)

Progress shot of the full poster.

It's for "research"...

Choking hazard: EVERYONE.

I'm in The Atlantic talking about Bettie Page!

"Male Fans Made Bettie Page a Star, but Female Fans Made Her an Icon"

Hey neat! I'm in a major online news source talking about pinup icon Bettie Page like I'm some sort of expert on the subject. Heh. I was approached by the writer of the piece, Tori Rodriguez right before the holidays after she found my artwork, notably my Bettie-homage pieces and asked me some questions. Some of my answers were used for the article, some weren't. I figured I'd post the rest of the interview here. Def check out the article above though, it covers a lot of ground, delving into her past, the musings of other fans including the illustrious Dita VonTeese (whom I had an intimate run-in with back in 2012) and a review of the new documentary Bettie Page Reveals All!



1. How did you first learn of Bettie, and what initially drew you to her?
I first learned of Bettie as a teenager in the early 90's when I would go shopping at Tower Records and saw Bettie's image on lunchboxes and other merch. As a young goth, it was initially her black and white Irving Klaw era photos that hooked me in. All those boots and corsets and those iconic bangs. I've heard of her being referred to as the 'Marilyn for brunettes'.

2. What is it that you love about her/what does she represent to you?
As a pinup artist, her photographs are an invaluable resource. Her posing, expressions and choices in attire are what pinup art is all about. She can run the gamut of fun-loving beach bunny to whip-cracking dominatrix.

3. Any thoughts on why she appeals to so many women in general?
I think it's that she represents a freedom to express her womanhood in a very repressed time. Even though her outfits (or lack thereof...) aren't as shocking today as they were when they were taken, she owns it. I have several books in my reference library that feature her spreads from men's magazines back in the day, and how she unabashedly owns the outfits she wears is inspiring. No matter how over-the-top, or scandalous or even downright silly, you can see her rock it. Such confidence is inspiring.

4. Some women see Bettie as an alternative to unhealthy societal pressures to look perfect and behave in a certain way. Where do you think these unhealthy messages come from, i.e. who/what is sending the opposite message to what Bettie represents? (I know the answer to this seems obvious, but we want to hear fans' perspectives.)
To me Bettie was a gateway into subcultures like rockabilly and burlesque, which are very body-positive environments to women with ample curves who want to celebrate their bodies. From Bettie I learned about other pinup models and burlesque superstars like Tura Satana. From Tura I learned about the movies of Russ Meyer and from there I've monkey-barred into this whole wonderful world of showgirls and rhinestones and pencil skirts and cleavage, cleavage, cleavage. So I surround myself with these images of powerful women and try my best to ignore what the standard of beauty is that other people or entities try to push on me.

My Society 6 Merch in REAL LIFE!

This Christmas about 99% of my presents given were items purchased thru my Society 6 store. Admittedly my intentions for doing this were a bit selfish. They don't offer samples of your work (which is understandable as that could be easily abused...) so if I want to check out the quality of the plethora of items Society 6 has to offer with my artwork on it, I have to cough up the money myself. Also my family is notoriously hard to shop for, and having a gift of my artwork on usable items like coffee mugs, pillows and totebags makes it hard to regift or return. Plus they really dug them all, so yay! Double win! Check out my Society6 store HERE!

The Queen coffee mug: get it HERE

I was rather happy with the quality of printing on my items. Some colors were a little off or washed out (Society6 prints using RGB colors instead of CMYK colors...) especially on the mugs, but the printing on the totes and pillowcases is bright and beautiful.

Knockout tote: get it HERE

 Now I want to buy a ton of stuff from both mine and my friend's sites on Society6 for myself. I mean, one can never have too many tote bags, right? Also, all friends/family going forward get Society6 merch for their birthdays/holidays.

Blonde and Brunette Sailor Mermaid mugs:
  get them HERE and HERE.

 For the most part my only gripe now is that I can't buy my own pieces in bulk to have available at my convention table. Or I could, but the prices would have to be crazy expensive to make any sort of profit. Or I could buy one and label it 'Display Only' and then explain where they can get one, which would be a giant pain in my tookus.

Card Queen throw pillow: get it HERE.

Also what's cool about Society6 is that with every sale I get a percentage. Not necessarily enough to retire on as of yet, haha more like get a Venti from Starbucks. But I can definitely see how it can add up. Be sure to check it out for yourself! As I get more stuff I'll post it here!

Amor Eterno coffee mug: get it HERE.

Check out my Society6 store for yourself HERE!

Home from the holidays and looking forward to 2014!

Phil and I at the Balsmans house in Missouri.

 It's officially 2014 and I am back home after my yearly double-up of family time, traveling from New York City to Baltimore (to see my family), then from Baltimore to St Louis (to see my in-laws), then St Louis back to New York. Even though it's usually no more than a week that we spend away, by the time we get home it feels like I've been gone a month.

Our little vintage ceramic Christmas tree. We're all about low maintenance holiday decor.

 January-March is usually my slow time for events, so I'm looking forward to really digging deep into some more involved projects I have lined up for 2014. I will have to fire up the engines on my merch making early this year however for my appearances at conventions starting this April. 2014 is looking to be my busiest year yet, and I am pumped.

One of my most cherished vintage Christmas ornaments, given to me by my Mommom.

Me, Mommom and Mom.

Newest acquisitions from Mommom's vintage Christmas collection. I was OBSESSED with that tiny porcelain Santa as a kid.

I'm impressed we're this well put-together before noon.

I just do what the wall tells me to.

Michelle and Joshua's commission

This is a commission I did of a couple as a Christmas present, requested by the guy for the gal. Big fans of mine, she got choked up opening the framed version this morning and sent me a lovely note. Warm fuzziness all around. It gives me great satisfaction when my art makes people happy.